Lauren Laverne has taken the unusual route of moving from indie to telly. Having formed Kenickie with a bunch of teenage friends from Sunderland when they left school, she's now gearing up for her part in Channel 4's new breakfast show and playing records on her own show on Xfm. "Being on the telly and the radio is a lot easier than going round the country playing gigs," she says of her new role. "You get less hassle, too. When we were in Kenickie, everyone went on about how we couldn't play our instruments. But we formed the band before even picking them up, so what did they expect?"

Laverne's musical credentials, however, are still intact. In the flat that she shares with friends in North London, we spend an afternoon listening to some of rock's finer moments from the last few decades. First up is Countdown to Ecstasy by Steely Dan, the smart boy's 70s band of choice led by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.

"I was raised by a Steely Dan obsessive - my dad," explains Laverne. "I hated them when I was little, on all those summer-holiday car journeys. Then I had this road to Damascus-type experience with Any Major Dude Will Tell You off Pretzel Logic, and I completely became obsessed with them and got every album they ever made. I played Steely Dan on Xfm, which surprised the audience - it must be the only station you could hear them on, apart from Radio 2, obviously."

Second choice is Slanted & Enchanted by Pavement. "When I was 16, there was that summer where I left school and had to hang around for ages. It was really hot, and I went to lots ofparties and snogged loads of boys. This was the soundtrack to that summer, which was when we formed Kenickie. Pavement were a good 'in' to alternative bands, and it's my idea of what pop music should be. Slanted & Enchanted was my bar mitzvah."

Then it's time for the Stooges' first album. "Well, you can't go wrong with the Stooges," she shouts over the opening blast of 1969. "It's all killer, no filler, and nothing has ever topped I Wanna Be Your Dog for pure rock'n'roll - it's the Fear and Loathing of rock music. Iggy Pop is one of those people that I love so much, I could never meet. I never wanted to shag Iggy Pop. I wanted to be Iggy Pop."

Likewise with Royal Trux, the now split sleazy rock legends led by Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema, who spent years living a life of pure junkie degeneracy before cleaning up and moving to a remote ranch in Virginia. "I went to see them in Newcastle and ended up talking to the drummer because I was too scared to talk to Neil and Jennifer," admits Laverne. "And he tried to get off with me. But I just wanted to be in their gang!"

She plays Junkie Nurse from Royal Trux's eponymous 1992 album, recorded at the heart of Neil and Jennifer's Keith Richards-fixated rock'n'roll oblivion period. "Their best stuff was made when they were absolutely fucked all the time," she claims. "They are my favourite band. Some of it sounds just like Bob Dylan; other times they're completely unlistenable. Neil Hagerty is the best guitarist of the 90s, and Jennifer Herrema was the first girl I could really relate to in music. She was incredibly glamorous and so stylish - now everyone is walking around dressed like Royal Trux and they don't even realise."

Next comes one of those albums regularly held up as untouchably perfect: Marquee Moon by Television. "I don't like that Boy's Own-type listing of all the albums you have to love - I hate the Clash and I hate Led Zeppelin," says Laverne. "So it's easy to tar all the classics with the same brush, but this album is fantastic. The song Friction has the line: 'I don't want to grow up with too much contradiction.' I remember walking around Sunderland listening to that on me headphones, thinking: 'Yes! Me neither!' "

Then there's quick doff of the cap to Music Has the Right to Children by Boards of Canada, a name currently being namedropped by musos everywhere. "They're from Scotland," says Laverne, as she plays the band's strange Eno-esque soundscapes. "It's two guys who have been recording together since they were 10, so a lot of the samples are of them when they were little. They've got a studio in the middle of nowhere and they claim to live on a commune. This is what Radiohead were wanting to be when they did Kid A."

Finally, an honourable mention goes to Roxy Music. "Probably Siren, the one with Jerry Hall on the cover as a mermaid, is my favourite album, but I love For Your Pleasure too," she says. Laverne's father was in Roxy prototypes the Gas Board.

"Dad left because he didn't want to live in London. He took me to a festival once and ended up having a conversation with this old Geordie bloke who turned out to be Phil Manzanera, Roxy's guitarist. He didn't tell me until afterwards. I don't think he minded Roxy Music getting successful at all - he was just pleased he could stay in Sunderland."